Blood of the Beast
by ArchAngel616
Summary: Welcome to Terca Lumireis. It has been a few years since the Adaphagos, and the world has pretty much been thrown into chaos. It's in this setting that we start our story. Our heroes run into someone who many of them haven't seen for a good long while, and get thrown into a new adventure straight away. But in a world without Blastia, all kinds of things can - and will - go wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Okay, so pretty much, I love the Tales games, even if I've only played a couple of them. I have watched play throughs of a few of the others. And Tales of Vesperia is probably one of my favourites. In addition to watching someone play the game, I have watched the movie... which is why there is a history between my OC and Yuri and Flynn and a couple of the others. I did write something set during First Strike, so some of that will be mentioned in this story. That's my brief background to this. I won't give anything else away. Hope you enjoy the story, and please feel free to post feedback! Now without further ado, I give you, Blood of the Beast.**

* * *

Yuri looked around at Brave Vesperia, only a little long suffering. Raven was trying to flirt with Judy again, and she was teasing him back, Karol trying to talk to Repede (who wasn't actually listening) while he cooked. Things had been pretty quiet recently, not a lot of jobs other than kill this monster, kill that monster, protect this person through Quoi woods, get that person to Capua Nor… They were currently protecting a couple of people over to Dahngrest and were current stuck in woods that the people had _sworn_ was a shortcut… and they had very rapidly gotten lost. Hence why Yuri was a little long suffering. The clients, a man and a woman, were in a rather heated discussion near the edge of the campsite. Yuri couldn't help it, a small, exasperated sigh escaping him as he leaned against a tree and watched them all. Then he frowned slightly, looking around and up the rather vertical hill nearby… just as someone skidded on the ground up there, lost her footing, and tumbled down on top of him, sending them both sprawling on the ground. Everyone looked around, surprised by her sudden appearance. She blinked her pink-red eyes twice, then a grin slipped onto her face.  
"Hey!"  
"Shay?! The hell are you doing here?" Yuri demanded, neither of them moving. She just shrugged, rather awkwardly considering she was leaning on her arms to avoid having their faces even closer together.  
"Just… dropping in to say hi." Then she was pushed off Yuri and pinned by Repede, who no one except her and Yuri - who were actually at the correct angles - could tell that he was actually licking her face rather repetitively. She covered her face with her hands, looking away slightly, grinning and struggling to contain her laughter.  
"Someone get this fearsome beast off me," She forced out as Yuri sat up, lifting his right knee and resting his elbow on it, just watching in amusement as she carefully pushed Repede back, pushing herself up on her right arm and scratching him under the chin, "Yes, it's good to see you too, Repede."  
"Wait… you guys know each other?" Karol asked, temporarily forgetting his cooking. Shay looked past Repede to him, then got a nose rudely shoved in her face when she stopped scratching under his chin. She pulled a slightly amused face then went back to scratching him.  
"Ah… sorta," She said, now looking at Yuri, "It's been a while since we last saw each other."  
"How long is a while?" Karol asked, still trying to wrap his head around it. Yuri thought a moment.  
"Six years?" He asked. Shay shrugged.  
"Yeah, something like that." Yuri stood up.  
"Get off her, Repede." He said, Repede turning and glaring at him before reluctantly stepping off her. She stood up, brushing herself down, and the rest of the group got their first good look of her. Pink-red eyes, long white hair tied in pigtails about middle of her head, a fringe parted slightly to the left and swept to the right, a scar on her left cheek running from beside her eye to the corner of her mouth. She was somewhere around 5'8, but she wore slight heels which would possibly put her up to 5'9 or 5'10. She had a yellow crop top that was loose with shoulderless sleeves that were also rather loose and went to a bit above her elbows, a black cropped tank top beneath that, only the straps visible, but it was pretty tight fitting. She wore light brown shorts and a black belt with a brooch of the Hunting Blades emblem, her boots were a slightly tinted pink white that went above her knees, maybe ⅓ up her thighs, a couple of inches below where her shorts ended. Around her neck was a pink choker with a golden bell on it. She was pretty nicely shaped, too, not that different in proportions to Judy, just maybe a little more slender in her athleticism. Raven leaned forward slightly.  
"So, Yuri, you gonna introduce everyone to this young beauty?" He asked.  
"Shut up Raven," Shay growled, "I'd forgotten how annoying you could be."  
"He-hey! She actually remembers me!" He grinned, leaving her to roll her eyes.  
"It'd be hard to forget."  
"You know her too, Raven?" Karol asked, now even more surprised.  
"Oh yeah, we go back further than her and Yuri here." Raven grinned. Shay shook her head, not looking too impressed.  
"And yet it's Karol I've had the most to do with. Doesn't that just break your heart, Raven?"  
"What?" Raven looked at Karol, "You know her too?"  
"Yeah, Shayla's a member of the Hunting Blades. She's the reason I got in in the first place, promised Clint she'd keep an eye on me."  
"Yep. And currently your food is burning." Karol let out a little yelp while Shay just smiled slightly.  
"Am I the only one who doesn't know her?" Judy asked, and Shay grinned at her.  
"No, we don't know her either." One of the clients piped up, Shay then smiling over at them.  
"I'm Shayla, but this guy gave me the nickname Shay way back when. Nice to meet you."  
"Judith. Yuri gave me the nickname Judy." Judy smiled back.  
"You'd think he has trouble remembering full names." Judy chuckled slightly and Yuri looked a little awkward.  
"Please tell me you're not always going to be like this…" He muttered. Shay looked back around at him as Repede nudged at her hand, insisting on more scratches.  
"I don't know. Can't tell the future now, can I?" Then she seemed to remember something, "Oh, and ah… you might want to get out of here." Yuri raised an eyebrow, a little unconvinced.  
"What did you do this time?"  
"Nothing! I swear this isn't my fault! And when I have I ever gotten you into trouble? It was usually me getting you _out_ of trouble!"  
"That's not how I remember it."  
"Then you've clearly got a bad memory!"  
"Um… Shayla, you still haven't explained why we should be getting out of here." Karol said, holding a pot of stew in his gloved hands.  
"Oh! Right!" Shayla stopped looking so irritated with Yuri and looked at around at the others, "Bunch of monsters headed this way."  
"WHAT?!" Yuri almost exploded, "You didn't think to tell us that _first?"_  
"I forgot, OK? Wasn't exactly expecting to see you lot here."  
"What did you do to annoy a bunch of monsters?" Judy asked, almost conversationally, though there was a certain glint in her eye that said she actually kinda wanted a fight.  
"It wasn't me!" Shayla insisted, "I'm a victim here!"  
"Uh-huh…" Yuri didn't look convinced, "So what did happen?"  
"Working a job with Clint, Tison, Nan, and a couple of others," Shay started explaining, Karol's eyes lighting up at the mention of Nan, "And one of the scatter brains, who shall remain unnamed, left his post and the monsters got past, heading towards me too early, note why I was running so fast, and why there are a bunch of monsters headed this way."  
"So… why haven't they arrived yet?" Yuri asked, still not looking convinced.  
"I was a fast runner back when we met, idiot, I got faster."  
"Faster than… what type of monster did you say it was again?"  
"I didn't."  
"Well, good to know I'm not forgetting such an important detail." Yuri smirked, earning a scowl in response.  
"Are those two always going to be like this?" Judy asked innocently, Shay looking at her before a small smirked slipped onto her lips.  
"OK, kinda deserve that one…" She muttered, "Wolves, black wolves… one or two overgrown wild boars…" She glanced at Yuri, "Bring back memories for ya?" She asked, winking. He scowled slightly.  
"How many?"  
"Like I stopped to count?" She shrugged, "Maybe as many as the knights dealt with back then. We were supposed to be luring them towards a cavern not too far away and getting rid of them like that, but, like I said. Mission went bad."  
"Know how far away they are?"  
"Ah… Not as far as we'd like them to be…" She pointed up the hill again as a bunch of wolves started emerging from the trees.  
"Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding me!" Yuri scowled, drawing his sword.  
"Wish I was…" Shay looked at the citizens, "Imma gonna guess that those two aren't very good at running?"  
"Nope."  
"Great… sooooo… we gonna fight these guys and probably end up getting torn to shreds while they try and get away?"  
"They're kinda the reason we're lost in this forest in the first place." Yuri muttered as Shay pulled out a couple of pistol crossbows, glancing down to make sure they'd managed to knock themselves properly, then looking back up at the wolves.  
"Tell ya what," She said, "We get out of this, I lead you out of the forest myself as an apology for bringing down a monster horde on you."  
"Ha, gonna take more than that to pay this one off, Shay."  
"Great… I'm never going to live this down am I?"  
"Nope."

* * *

In the end the Hunting Blades managed to arrive and help finish off the monsters, what monsters weren't killed just retreated into the forest. Raven plonked himself down on the ground, a little red in the face.  
"Whew! I'm pooped," He said, "Hey, Shayla dear, how about a nice backrub for this old man?"\  
"Forget it. You want someone to give you a backrub, ask Tison." The slightly older man with the funny long hood hat thing glared at Shay, Raven shaking his head furiously.  
"You're one cold lady," He muttered, then looked at her sideways, "How old are ya now, anyway?"  
"21."  
"And still living with your daddy?"  
"Oh please, he's not my dad."  
"He's just her almost sort of nearly foster father," Yuri supplied, looking at Shay sideways, "That is how you put it, right?" Shay scoffed, smirking slightly.  
"Something like that."  
"Shayla!" A rather commanding tone called out and Shay rolled her eyes.  
"Speak of the devil," She muttered with a heavy sigh, turning around, "What did I do wrong this time, Clint?" She asked.  
"We had a plan!" He scolded, "Why did you go running off?"  
"You'd rather I'd been torn to shreds by the wolves?" Shay demanded, "The plan didn't work. I improvised. And we're all still alive. Even the two citizens here," She pointed at Brave Vesperia's clients, "I'd say that everything worked out pretty good, all things considered," Clint's scowl just deepened as he spotted Yuri and Shay frowned, "When are you going to stop treating me like a kid?" She muttered, turning to face the long, dark haired man, "I said I'd show you lot the way out. Think we can head off sooner rather than later? I need to escape this guy for a while."  
"I'm ready when those guys are." Yuri motioned to the clients, who just nodded profusely.  
"Get us outta here." They ordered. Shay mock bowed to them.  
"Your wish is my command," She looked over to where Karol was talking to Nan, "He gonna want to come or will he come later with the Blades?" She asked.  
"Oi! Captain!" Yuri called over, Karol looking up, "We're about to go!" Karol made his hurried goodbyes and ran over, Judy walking over at a calm pace and pulling Ol' Raven to his feet on the way. Shay pointed in the right direction and Yuri and the others started walking off while she turned to face Clint.  
"I'll meet back up with you in Dahngrest. Make sure you're willing to treat me like a grown up by then." She muttered, then turned and went to catch up with the others. Yuri looked around when she joined him near the front, a slightly grim look on her face.  
"That's your sort of almost nearly foster father?" He asked, "I mean, I've met him a couple of times before, but I've never seen him quite like that."  
"I told you. He still sees me as that nine year old kid he met, even though I am now well and truly an adult." Yuri felt like he probably shouldn't talk about Clint anymore, so instead changed the topic.  
"Looks like the past six years have been treating you pretty well."  
"Oh, they have. Which reminds me." She punched him roughly in the shoulder, leaving him rubbing where her fist had collided with him.  
"Ow! What was that for?!" He demanded, looking down at her and the smug smirk on her face.  
"Not coming to see me."  
"You could have come to see me!"  
"Like Clint would've let me."  
"He didn't give you permission to go to Shizontonia, you still went there."  
"Yeah, got a hell of a telling off when I got back. I could swear I hardly got a minute's peace and quiet for eight months after that, felt like someone was alway keeping an eye on me. Never got the chance to sneak away."  
"Eight months out of six years?"  
"You don't know Clint like I do. He would have ripped my throat out if I'd snuck off to see some boy," Shay scoffed, "Would have killed me then brought me back to life again if he found I'd snuck off to see two boys."  
"Two boys?" Judy asked, joining the conversation, "Who's the second?"  
"Flynn Scifo, who I hear is Commandant now?" She glanced up at Yuri, the slight look of pride that he would profusely deny was there if pointed out giving her all the confirmation she needed, "Him and this one were a pair of angsty teens when I first met them."  
"We were not." Yuri muttered.  
"You were," Shay scoffed, "Though I'll admit to that bar brawl being rather entertaining." Yuri grinned.  
"The look on Flynn's face when you walked in when the Captain was telling us off."  
"He hadn't gotten to the punishment part yet," She smirked, "And he didn't think I was a nice person simply because I was in a Guild."  
"And he ended up developing the biggest crush on you."  
"He did not."  
"Did too," Yuri laughed, "It was hard to make him shut up about you."  
"I call bull." Judy and Karol just watched us, Raven was bringing up the rear, making sure that Brave Veseria's clients didn't fall behind.  
"So, how is it that you two know each other?" Karol asked. Shay looked up at Yuri and smirked.  
"Well now, that's a long -"  
"Boring,"  
"Story." They both finished, grinning at each other.  
"What?" Karol asked, "Shayla, I've never heard you finish a sentence with someone!"  
"So Yuri and I have a bit of a history," She shrugged, "So what?"  
"How much history is a bit of history?" Judy asked.  
"We weren't kidding about it being a long story." Yuri said, sobering a bit.  
"We were just… making a little fun of a couple of people when we added the boring part."  
"Making fun of who?" Both Yuri and Shay grew quiet and Karol suddenly got the feeling he'd said something wrong. Shayla shook her head slightly.  
"Couple of people we knew." She explained.  
"How is Merzhom these days, anyway?" Yuri asked her.  
"I dunno. Haven't seen him since then."  
"You're kidding."  
"You're surprised?"  
"Not really."  
"They're not going to give us a straight answer, are they?" Karol muttered quietly to Judy.  
"They'll probably tell us when they're ready." Shay stopped walking for a moment, trying to look up through the trees, then scowled. Yuri looked around at her, leaning his head to the side slightly and watching her.  
"Something wrong?" He asked.  
"You lot have been distracting me. Just realised I haven't been counting my steps," She muttered, "Hang on a moment." She quickly starting climbing a nearby tree, Yuri and the others just watching in mild confusion.  
"Counting your steps?" Yuri asked.  
"I didn't even know she still worked like that." Karol said.  
"Huh?"  
"In some areas she counts her steps so she knows when she has to adjust course slightly to avoid more monster infested areas or fast flowing rivers without bridges, stuff like that."  
"Wouldn't that get… boring? Counting up to numbers somewhere in the hundreds?"  
"She gets into the thousands, actually." By now she'd vanished from sight she'd gotten so high in the tree. Raven had a slight twinkle in his eye, crossing over to the tree and peering up. Yuri placed his free hand on his hip, raising his eyebrow slightly.  
"Come off it, old man." He ordered… just as Shay dropped down from the tree on the other side, leaning around and tapping Raven on the shoulder, a small grin on her face.  
"Too slow."  
"Aw, man! And there was me looking forward to a good view." He grumbled. Shay just shook her head and then started walking in about the same direction they had been walking in before.  
"Looks like we have a reasonably straight path for a change."  
"For a change?" Yuri asked.  
"I mentioned the ravine earlier didn't I? Looks like there's been a tree fall over it recently. Normally we'd have to head slightly more that way," She pointed to her right, "And find a rather old bridge that I don't quite trust."  
"You trust a tree that's quite possibly rotten over a bridge?"  
"You betcha."  
"And if we say we'd rather use the bridge?" One of the clients called forwards.  
"Have a nice trip. I won't stop you," She looked around at them and smiled, her head leaning slightly to the side, "But I have to warn you, from this angle you'd be heading through some rather monster heavy territory. Pretty sure there's a big guy in there, too. Wouldn't want to mess with him if you have little to no fighting experience. As in, I suspect Yuri and even Flynn would have trouble with that guy on their own."  
"Now I really want to go and fight this guy. I've gotten better, you know."  
"I don't doubt it. I didn't say you wouldn't manage it, just that you'd have trouble."  
"And what's with this 'even Flynn'? I can beat him now."  
"Aha. And how many times have you managed that?"  
"Ah… once."  
"I call fluke," Shay grinned, "Now pick up the pace. We still got a ways to go. Where are you lot coming from, anyway?"  
"Capua Torim." One of the clients answered. Shay looked at them incredulously.  
"You guys are _way_ off track. Should have stayed on the path, headed through Heliord," She shook her head, looking away, "How did you manage to pass pretty close by Caer Bocram…" She muttered.  
"Ah, so _that's_ why the place seemed a little familiar." Yuri muttered.  
"Yep, probably. Gaw, and I thought you had a good sense of direction."  
"Just out of curiosity," Judy said, speaking up before Yuri could object, "Were you two in some sort of romantic relationship by any chance? Because you argue like an old married couple."  
"Good God, no! Hell no!" Shay objected, quite strongly.  
"In a relationship? With Shay? No chance!" Yuri objected at the same time, and neither of them stopped there, continuing to make their feelings on the matter quite well known. They looked at each other, falling silent, pulling faces then determinedly looking away.  
"Let's just get to Dahngrest…" Shay muttered, starting to walk faster. Judy leaned her head slightly to one side.  
"That wasn't the reaction I was expecting."


	2. Chapter 2

They camped that night just beside the ravine, waiting until it was light to decide whether to cross the fallen tree or go further along and finding the bridge to hopefully cross a little more safely. Judy was on cooking, and the clients pretty much just fell asleep, curled up on their mats under their blankets. Shay watched them for a moment, then leaned back with her head resting on Repede, who hadn't seemed to want to leave her side for very long since she dropped in on the group. Yuri wasn't too far away either, leaning against a tree trunk they'd pulled over to serve as a seat or, in Yuri's case, a backrest. Karol was busy mending some stuff, sitting slightly closer to the fire where he had slightly better light.  
"Kinda wish I could just fall asleep like that," Shay muttered, "But since all the blastia were destroyed I haven't had a decent night's sleep."  
"Yeah… sorry about that."  
"What?" She looked around at Yuri, not lifting her head, "Don't be. I'd rather have no blastia and sleep like crap to the whole world being destroyed by the Adephagos or whatever it was called."  
"If only everyone saw things the way you did," Yuri scoffed, "Oh yeah, there was something I wanted to ask you."  
"Oh?"  
"Couple of years ago, when everything happened, there was this guy we kept running into. Ended up having to fight him before we stopped the Adephagos which in the end he helped out with."  
"That's… nice of him. What does any of this have to do with you wanting to ask me something?"  
"It was Duke Pantarei. Looked a little like you. Any relation?" Shay pulled a face.  
"Not one I like admitting to. But yeah. Remember that uncle I mentioned? The one my mom got in contact with before everything went to hell?  
"Yeah."  
"That's him."  
"So wait, let me make sure I'm gettin' this right…" Raven said, frowning a little, "You're sayin' that your uncle is the hero of the Great War?"  
"Uhuh."  
"And yet he was still willing to wipe all of humanity off the face of the planet, even knowing that he had a niece runnin' around?" Shay sat up, looking over at Raven with a thoroughly confused and slightly enraged look on her face as Repede lifted his head, a little startled and confused by her sudden movement.  
"He did _what?_ "  
"Okay, so you didn't know about the whole tryin' ta destroy humanity thing."  
"No. No I did not," She scowled, "Mom woulda killed him…"  
"Your mom?"  
"My mom was his big sister."  
"There's one thing I don't really understand," Karol said, looking up from his mending, "If Duke is your uncle, then why did you end up with the Hunting Blades?"  
"I've been wondering that myself for the past fourteen years," Shay muttered, leaning back and resting her head on Repede again, folding her fingers together over her belly while Repede settled again, "I've come up with a few options. He doesn't care about me, which would possibly help explain why the bastard was still willing to destroy all humanity," She sounded perfectly conversational about this, "He doesn't realise I'm still alive, which would still explain the genocide thing, or he was just so grief stricken after my mom died that he didn't actually look for me after he found her body. Not that I'm even sure he showed up to look, so it's entirely possible he didn't learn about my parents' deaths until after the war ended, when it was too late for him to find me because I was already with the Blades."  
"Guess we won't know unless we ask him, right?" Yuri asked, Shay rolling her eyes around to fix on him again.  
"I ain't looking for him."  
"He's your uncle."  
"He tried to commit genocide," She pointed out, "Plus, it's so much easier being Shayla the Hunting Blade than Shayla Pantarei. I haven't thought of myself as a Pantarei since I was somewhere around fourteen, I think. Or was it fifteen… can't remember."  
"How do you not think of yourself as a Pantarei?" Raven asked, "You look pretty much exactly like your uncle."  
"Ah, no. My mom looked like a feminine version of him. I have the colouring of a Pantarei, but I get my height from my dad, and my eye shape from my dad. And my nose."  
"Face shape is sorta like Duke's though." Yuri pointed out.  
"So most of my attributes are Pantarei ones, I still don't look pretty much exactly like my uncle. That honour went to his big sister."  
"Your mother?" Judy asked from her position by the cooking pot. Shay lifted her eyebrows in confirmation.  
"Yep. Danika Pantarei. Duke's older sister by somewhere around five years. Fell in love with some guy from Capua Torim. They got married and had one kid. Me. Shayla Pantarei."  
"So you don't have your father's last name? That's odd, not very common."  
"Um… I think the plan was that if I was a boy I'd have had my dad's last name, but since I'm a girl I have my mom's last name."  
"So what was your father's last name?"  
"Something really horrible to pronounce… Antonopoulos or Angelopoulos or something… A-something-Poulos anyway."  
"Doesn't sound that hard to pronounce to me."  
"I'm probably butchering the pronunciation, Judy. Trust me. When I was a kid I seriously struggled with it."  
"I never asked," Karol said, "How did your parents die?" Shay didn't say anything. She didn't hate the Empire for their deaths anymore, but there was only one other person who knew about how they died, and that was Yuri. It wasn't something she liked talking to people about, despite how often she said she was over their deaths. She absently reached up and touched the scar on her cheek, lost in her memories. It just didn't feel like something she should talk about. Yuri came to her rescue.  
"Didn't you tell me it was a couple of years before the end of the Great War?" He asked, getting a slight nod in response, "So they could have died fighting it." He told Karol.  
"Huh…" He then noticed the look on Shay's face, "Ah… Shayla? You OK?" He asked. She smiled at him.  
"Yeah. I just don't like thinking about their deaths very much."  
"Oh! I… I'm sorry."  
"Don't worry about it. You're never gonna learn stuff if you don't ask." Judy tapped the side of the pot a couple of times then looked around at everyone.  
"I think it's finished," She said, then looked over at the sleeping clients, "Should we wake them?"  
"Nah, let them sleep. They've had a big day," Shay said, "Besides, you wake them up and feed them now, they'll be up all night. And we still have a ways to go."  
"So when do you think we'll reach Dahngrest?" Yuri asked as Judy started dishing out food. Shay shrugged, accepting her plate and starting to push the food around it.  
"Hard to say exactly. Couple of days, maybe? Depending how many monsters we encounter along the way maybe a bit longer."  
"You mean we're stuck with these people for two more days?" Yuri groaned, "Great…"  
"Hey, you're the ones who took the job," Shay chuckled, "Besides, they aren't the worst clients you could have, by far."  
"Who's the worst client you've had, Shay?" Judy asked, sitting down with her own plate and digging in. Shay thought for a moment, munching on her food.  
"Hmm… Had so many… hard to decide. Had this one guy who wouldn't stop hitting on me. He was worse than Ol' Raven."  
"Aw, you hurt this old man's feelin's, Shay, you really do."  
"Heh, sorry Raven," She smiled, "Compared to this guy, you're a saint."  
"That must be saying something." Yuri half smirked.  
"Being picked on by two of the young 'uns? Now that just ain't fair," Raven grumbled, digging into his food, "Judy, darling, this is amazing." Judy smiled.  
"I'm glad you like it." Shay scoffed slightly.  
"It is pretty good." She agreed.  
"Thank you, Shay," Judy turned her smile to Shay, "You were telling us about this client?"  
"Oh yeah," Shay finished her mouthful, "He was all hands, honestly. I swear, I have never been so tempted to dump a job."  
"Did you?"  
"Hell no! Give Clint the satisfaction of me not finishing a job? You know what he'd have done? He'd have turned it into an excuse to not let me out of his sight again. As it is, he has no idea about how bad that client was," She shrugged, "What about you, Raven?"  
"An old geezer. Wouldn't stop complainin', no matter what I did. Thought I was doing an absolutely shit job of things. Couldn't very well tell him to shove it, though… he was pretty influential."  
"Sounds like hell."  
"Trust me, Yuri my boy, it was a lot worse."  
"And what about Brave Vesperia?" Shay asked, looking around at Yuri, "I know you're still a pretty young guild, but surely you've had a few crappie clients?" Yuri thought a moment, watching as Karol happily munched on his meal, Judy also thinking hard on the matter.  
"There was the couple that wouldn't stop arguing the whole time we were escorting them to Helure," He said, "Drove me up the walls. Thing that made it even better, they ended up blaming it on me for some reason. Not that I had anything to do with why they were arguing."  
"You never told us about that one!" Karol exclaimed, but Yuri just shrugged.  
"Didn't bother me that much. It was just a bit annoying."  
"Yuri is sometimes a rather chill guy," Shay said, "Who should take a page out of Flynn's book more often."  
"What?" Yuri shot daggers at her and she just half smiled.  
"He's a lot more patient than you are," She explained, "Should follow that example more often."  
"So even you support the whole perfect Flynn thing?" Yuri sounded a bit irritated by that.  
"Hell no," Shay shook her head, "Last I saw of him he was just as much of an angsty teen as you were. Have to wonder how he managed to become Commandant. Still, gotta be a little proud of him," She half smirked, "My boys are all grown up," She said it in a rather gooey voice and Yuri kicked her gently, to which she responded by hitting him, "But no. Neither of you are anywhere near perfect. It's just nice to know that you've both grown up a bit."  
"It's disconcerting to know that you haven't." Yuri grumbled, kicking her again, which ended up with him getting hit again, and Repede growling before he could kick back. Shay smirked as Yuri looked at the dog, faking a hurt look of betrayal before settling back against the log… then nudging Shay with his foot with a satisfied smirk on his lips. Shay just shook her head, also half smirking.  
"I'm going to get you back for that."  
"Not gonna try now?"  
"I don't want Repede to bite my face," She grinned, "I'll leave that honour to you." Karol, Raven, and Judy looked over at Yuri, a little confused, stunned, who knew what else.  
"It was one time!" Yuri sounded a little defensive.  
"No, pretty sure it was at least twice… Once when headed back to Zaphias, once in Shizontonia."  
"No."  
"Yes. I remember having to patch your face up once."  
"Your _face_?" Raven crowed, "Repede bit your face?" Yuri scowled.  
"You had to go and open your mouth, didn't you Shay?" He grumbled. She just shrugged, looking slightly pleased with herself.  
"Wasn't my face he bit." Repede half looked around and licked her cheek, making her lean away slightly and try and rub the dog slobber from it, then scratching him behind the ear.  
"I'd swear you had something to do with it… both times you were around."  
"Spectator only," Repede barked and Shay pointed her thumb at him, "See?"  
"You understand Repede too?" Karol asked, looking at her in surprise.  
"No, you're just imagining things."  
"That's what Yuri said when I asked if he was translating what Repede said…" Karol muttered, half glaring at Shay.  
"I'm actually vaguely surprised that Repede recognised me." Shay muttered as Repede lowered his head back onto his front paws.  
"Oh?" Judy asked, leaning her head to the side, "Why's that?"  
"He was just a pup when we I met him and Yuri," Shay explained, "And it _was_ six years ago."  
"You made an impression on him." Yuri shrugged.  
"Something tells me he isn't the only one you made an impression on." Judy looked from Yuri to Shay knowingly, Shay rolling her eyes and Yuri raising an eyebrow.  
"Again with this, Judy?" Yuri asked.  
"There's obviously something going on between you two."  
"Ah…" Shay thought a moment, "Yeah… I killed his captain's dog, does that count as something between us?" Repede's ear flicked back slightly, but other than that he didn't stir at the mention of his father.  
"Somehow I don't think that's the 'thing' she was talking about." Yuri muttered.  
"There isn't a thing though, so…"  
"Let her think what she wants." Yuri muttered. Shay just scoffed, setting her plate aside and leaning back on Repede more heavily, using him as a pillow.  
"Fight it out between you lot which of you is taking first watch," She yawned, "I'll take second." Everyone else just shared looks and eventually Yuri sighed, standing up and moving closer to the fire, chucking another log on. Slowly everyone else retired, until it was just him and Judy left. Judy just watched him closely for a bit. Yuri tried ignoring her for a bit, then gave up and looked at her.  
"What?"  
"What did happen between you two? You seem like friends, but the way you look at each other sometimes… It's like you're struggling with something. If it's not you two used to be in a relationship, then what it is?"  
"A lot of things six years ago," Yuri muttered, looking away, not wanting this conversation, "A lot of things that all three of us want to move on from. I don't know about Shay, but Flynn and I have had a bit of trouble with that."  
"Is this part of you saying you're cursed?" Judy asked with a slight teasing note in her voice. Yuri half chuckled, rubbing his eyes slightly.  
"Nah, that curse started a long time before that," He shrugged carelessly, "Makes life more fun though."  
"Does that have something to do with the thing between you two?"  
"There's nothing between us, Judy."  
"There is."  
"There really isn't," Yuri scoffed, "If there's anything between anyone, then it's her and Flynn. They just took one look at each other and started getting along really well." Judy half smirked.  
"Is that a hint of jealousy I hear?"  
"No, me and Shay got along pretty well. Flynn went off to deliver a message to the commandant at the time and I got put in charge of the dogs. That's when things…" He shook his head, "That's when things went wrong. Shay stopped me from killing Lambert when he went out of control, instead killing him herself. I still don't understand exactly why she did it, just said something about not wishing having to kill someone you love on her worst enemy," He scoffed, "Told me about how she got that scar while she was at it. Don't know if she was trying to take my mind off what happened to Lambert or..." He sighed, leaning forward, Judy watching him curiously, "We don't know each other very well. We didn't spend long together, and then we didn't see each other for 6 years. Let's just leave this conversation at that."


End file.
